Innis College Council 315Th Meeting Friday 8 March 2019 at 10:30 Am Innis Residence Events Room
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Innis College Council 315th Meeting Friday 8 March 2019 at 10:30 am Innis Residence Events Room Minutes Present: Elspeth Arbow, Ennis Blentic (assessor), Donald Boere (assessor), Sarah Burley Hollows, James Chapman (guest), Jannie Chien, Andrew Choi, Corinn Columpar, Lucas Granger, Didier Ha, Joyce Hahn (assessor), Kate Johnson, Paul Kaita (designate of Sarah Chocano), Charlie Keil, Daniel Li, Brandon Liu, Annie Liu, Merle McMurray, Tony Pi, Daniela Pirraglia, Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, Ashlee Redmond, Samuel Reimer, David Roberts, Tyler Schilz, Bart Testa, Ben Weststrate (secretary), Ethan Wong (designate of Dianthi Fernando), Paxton Wong, Nancy Zhao Regrets: James Cahill, Rita Chen, Sharon English, Dianthi Fernando, Ethan Kim, Stephanie Kroone, Varun Malik, Steve Masse, Janielle Palmer, Roslin Pan, Jean-Luc Pullano, Roger Riendeau, Ishan Sharma, Joanne Uyede, Caroline Wrobel, Andrew Zhao 1. SPEAKER'S REMARKS Student speaker Ashlee Redmond chaired the meeting and wished Council members a Happy International Women’s Day. 2. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 5 DECEMBER 2018 Click here to view the Minutes (PDF). A Motion to approve the previous Minutes was moved (Redmond), seconded (Pirraglia), and carried. 3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES None reported 4. PRINCIPAL'S REPORT A. Guest Speaker: Greg Evans Principal Keil welcomed guest speaker Greg Evans, chair of the Expert Panel on Undergraduate Student Educational Experience (USEE) and professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry. Evans reviewed the draft USEE vision (previously circulated to Council) and described its impetus. Discussion ensued. Ramkhalawansingh observed an excess of jargon in the vision, indicating that it too closely resembles a business plan. She added that “cultivating students’ curiosity” is a priority that should be more explicit. Granger recommended the inclusion of the word “respect” to the following line: “Allow them to understand and appreciate Indigenous peoples, histories and perspectives.” Evans acknowledged that the Panel is scrutinize that point as well. Li noted that the statement related to Indigenous Peoples stands out as the least intrinsically linked to classroom experience, calling for elaboration on how this idea is applied in that context. Evans acknowledged the high-level nature of the vision, indicating the Panel’s intent to provide operational ideas for its application/translation at a later stage in the rollout process. 1 Roberts asked where evaluation mechanisms factor into this process. Evans reiterated the high-level, aspirational nature of the vision and assured that a specific evaluation plan is forthcoming. Burley Hollows emphasized the importance of experience outside of the classroom and expressed that the language around this type of learning is underrepresented in the vision. Evans closed by inviting further feedback from the University community. Weststrate noted that the feedback website URL had been circulated to Council members. B. Guest speaker: Meredith Strong Principal Keil welcomed Meredith Strong, director of the Office of the Vice-Provost & Student Policy, back to ICC to discuss how the University is managing the recent provincial government changes to non-tuition fees. Strong provided an overview of the timeline, beginning with the Ministry announcement in January and summarized the two areas affected by the announcement: OSAP and non-tuition fees. Regarding the latter, Strong explained that this “Student Choice Initiative” requires opt-out provisions for non-essential non-tuition fees. The Office of the VP & Student Policy must interpret the Ministry announcement to differentiate the essential and non-essential. Strong reported little communication from the Ministry to clarify this rubric. A framework is expected this month. In the meantime, the University is analysing fees across 45 student societies, on a case-by-case basis, excluding the federated colleges. They are attempting to unbundle any consolidated fees. Consistency across divisions is going to be critical moving forward. The opt-out process must be online and in place by mid-July (i.e., prior to when students begin paying 2019/20 fall/winter fees). Strong’s office is also focussed on the logistics of the opt-out process, including provisions for later “opt-ins.” To this end, they are with EASII on the web interface where students will be presented with the ability to selectively opt-out. This may include space for fees to be explained (i.e., contextualized). Discussion ensued in which Strong clarified the following issues: • Fees that cover overhead/operational costs, such as staff pay, are expected to be classified as essential—if the impending Ministry framework allows for it. • Student societies’ access to membership lists, in order to differentiate fee-paying and non-paying students, are limited due to privacy rights. Her office is looking at this issue. • On the web interface, a given student will have to make an active and conscious decision to opt-out (e.g., checking a box) versus it being the default. • The government will set up a complaint mechanism (e.g., snitch line) for students to appeal whether a given fee should be classified as non-essential. • Work is being done at the divisional level to secure corporate donations to proactively offset the impacts. Redmond called for the development of a cross-University forum for divisional student leaders to discuss these changes, and to collaborate on managing the fall-out, namely loss of revenue. Burley Hollows indicated that the Office of Student Life (OSL) and ICSS are having conversations about opportunities to convey the benefits of certain fees to incoming students, prior to the opt-out date (e.g., summer messaging, academic orientation). Principal Keil stated that it is imperative for college principals to advocate for, subsidize and otherwise 2 minimize the impact upon students. A primary function of a college is to support its students; student government is a critical way to do this. Principal Keil requested clarity on the extent to which college administrators can subsidize student groups without running afoul of policy provisions (i.e., do an “end run”). At present, he cannot determine what we can and cannot do, and time is sensitive. Strong acknowledged this position and confirmed that it is another priority of her Office. Principal Keil thanked the guest speakers. C. Revitalisation and expansion project update Principal Keil reported that he and CAO Joyce Hahn will be part of a meeting on March 19 to select from the shortlisted architecture proposals. Two possible paths will emerge from this decision: • If incumbent firm Montgomery Sisam is selected they will proceed from where they left off. • If a new firm is selected, there will be a step back in the overall process to re-facilitate input from the College community. This path will require extra haste, to compensate for this additional step. A committee of 24 “student ambassadors” for the project has been assembled. It is a diverse group, representing the many facets of the student community. Ambassadors are nominally “on-call” to disseminate information about the project to various constituencies (e.g., fellow students, alumni, prospective donors). Keil reported nearly unanimous enthusiastic uptake from the students invited to participate. The proposed student levy, which will face referendum during the ICSS General Elections in late March, will not be affected by the impending changes to non-tuition fees (i.e., will be a mandatory fee). ICSS President Brandon Liu reviewed the terms of the levy (See Appendix 1). Liu noted that the ICSS is working with the ambassadors to ensure that students can make informed decisions about the levy, including a discussion at the Democracy Night event on March 14. Keil clarified that the intent behind the 25-year, accelerated fee structure (i.e., increasing in phases) is to increase the cost for those students who will directly enjoy the new space. D. Award Recipients: Principal Keil congratulated the following award recipients, noting that in his tenure as principal these are the highest recipient numbers Innis College has seen. • Student Engagement in the Arts Award: Ethan Kim, Jess Stewart-Lee, and Chiao Sun. They will be formally recognized at a March 19 ceremony. • Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award: James Chapman (Innis Herald, U of T New Democrats, HIF, Varsity, IRC, ICSS); Akil Abrar Chowdhury (Economics Students’ Association, Model UN, Muslim Students’ Association); Ethan Kim (IRC, Innis College Choir, ICC, WINDS); Stephanie Kroone (Innis OSL, ICSS, Orientation, Rotaract Club, Commuter Communications Committee); Lucy Lu (Innis OSL, FLC, InSIGHT); Ashlee Redmond (ICC, HIF, ICSS, IRC, Innis Herald); Jess Stewart-Lee (Innis Herald, Varsity, CINSSU); and Victoria Wilson (IRC, Fit Club, Canadian Conference on Student Leadership, Residence don). These recipients will be recognized at an April 22 ceremony. Council members applauded these well-earned achievements. 3 5. BOARD REPORTS A. Academic Affairs (AAB) Redmond, on behalf of Board moderator Sharon English, indicated that AAB had not met since the last ICC meeting. However, one decision was made, via email, to approve the two minor course changes, which had January 15 deadline. • Create a 300H “shell” course for a Writing Rhetoric “Special Topics” course, which the program currently doesn’t have. In 2019/20, the course will be “The Rhetoric of Health and Medicine,” taught by Dan Adleman. • Change name of INI304H to “The Illusion